Method of metering liquid and apparatus therefor



Nov. 6, 1962 R. c. LOVICK 3,062,681

METHOD OF METERING LIQUID AND APPARATUS THEREFOR Filed Nov. 27, 1959 53Robert GILoViclc IN V EN TOR.

Figri'By I United States Patent Ofifice 3,062,681 Patented Nov. 6, 1962New .Tersey Filed Nov. 27, 1959, Ser. No. 85:,638

11 Claims. (Cl. 117-111) This invention relates to a method of meteringliquid and apparatus therefor and more particularly to a method andapparatus for applying a uniform bead of liquid photographic developerto the sound track area on motionpicture film.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, the sound track area onmotion-picture film extends longitudinally of the film strip between thearea occupied by the images and the edge of the film strip. In the caseof color film it is the usual practice to develop the sound track areaindependently of the picture images. Obviously, the sound trackdeveloper Solution must be confined to the relatively narrow sound trackarea in order to preclude damaging the latent images carried by theimage area of the film strip. It is also desired in many instances tocoat the sound track area after development with a lacquer or othersimilar material in order to protect the sound track area against theaction of the chemicals which may be used in developing the image areaon the lm strip. The liquid bead applicator which will be hereinafterdescribed was designed specifically for use in applying liquidphotographic developer to the sound track area of a film strip but couldbe advantageously used for applying lacquers and other liquid materialsto a receiving strip or sheet or other surface.

In some of the liquid bead applicators of the known prior art, theapplicator disk is driven independently of the movement of film stripand in others the movement of the film strip controls the rotation ofthe applicator disk. The applicator shoe of the present invention wasdesigned for use in liquid bead applicators of the latter type. However,many of its advantages render it useful in other types of headapplicators as well as in other types of liquid coating apparatus.

In the known bead applicators the liquid tends to drain away from theliquid coating head during hesitations in the rotation of the applicatordisk. This produces an uneven and non-uniform coverage. The applicatorshoe of the present invention is designed for use with a liquid beadapplicator in which liquid is applied to a moving strip through a liquidcoating bead maintained between a rotating applicator disk, whichcontacts a supply of the liquid, and the moving strip, and assures thatan even and continuous liquid bead is coated on the strip. Theapplicator shoe comprises broadly a plate member designed to bepositioned adjacent to the periphery of the applicator disk between thepoint of contact of the disk with the liquid supply and the position ofthe liquid coating bead whereby a supplementary liquid bead isestablished and maintained between the shoe and the disk. The applicatorshoe in co-operation with one or more of the supplementary liquid beadsmeters the amount of liquid carried by the disk to the liquid coatingbead permitting, thereby, a more uniform and better defined area to becoated on the strip. Thus, in accordance with the present invention, themethod of metering the quantity of liquid carried on a moving surfacecomprises broadly the step of forming at least one stationary liquidbead on the liquid-carrying surface in the course of the movement of thesurface in a liquid- =feeding direction.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved device formetering the quantity of liquid carried on a moving liquid carryingsurface.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved devicefor applying a metered quantity of liquid from a supply thereof onto amoving strip.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a novel methodof metering the quantity of liquid transferred to a moving surface froma liquid carrying surface.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the followingdescription with reference to the drawing in which like charactersdenote like parts and wherein:

PEG. 1 is a perspective View of a liquid bead applicator utilizing theapplicator shoe of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a view showing a small section of typical 16 mm. color filmbearing a sound track along one edge;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged elevation view of the applicator shoe illustratedin FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the applicator shoeillustrated in FIG. 3 and showing the arrangement of the projections andlands on the shoe; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section view of one of the projections of theapplicator shoe and taken along the line designated 55 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 1 illustrates a liquid bead applicator having a support frame 11and a' guide wheel 13 which is rotatably mounted on a stub shaft 15carried by the support frame. Back-up roller 17 is mounted on a shaft 19which is rotatably carried in lever 21. Lever 21 is pivoted on pin 22 tolever 23 and on the other end at 25 to the frame 11 whereby the positionof roller 17 with respect to applicator disk 27 can be changed bygrasping the knob 29 and moving the lever 23 through the limits providedby the L-shaped slot 31 in lever 23 and pin 32 which is fastened inframe 11. Applicator disk 27 is carried on spindle 33 which is rotatablysupported in the frame 11. Gear means (not shown) operatively connectshaft 19 and spindle 33 so that any rotation imparted to the back-uproller 17 is transmitted to the disk 27. Liquid, which in the specificembodiment herein described is a liquid photographic developer, iscontained in a reservoir 35 formed in the tray 36. The liquid ismaintained by any suitable means well known in the art at a level suchthat the periphery 37 of disk 27 contacts and picks up the liquid uponrotation of the disk.

The applicator shoe 39 of my invention is slidably mounted by guidemeans 41 in a block 43 which is rigidly attached to the support frame11. The position of the shoe 39 can be adjusted by loosening theclamping screw 45, and sliding the shoe either toward or away from thedisk 27. As is best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, shoe 39 18 formed witha series of spaced projections 51. The ends of the projections form aninner peripheral surface 53 having a radius which is slightly largerthan the radius of the applicator disk 27 so that when shoe 39 ispositioned adjacent to the periphery 37 of disk 27, the inner peripheralsurface 53 is concentric to the periphery of disk 27 as shown in FIG. 3.A raised land 57 is formed across the end of each projection 51 and hasa radius which is slightly less than the radius of inner peripheralsurface 53 but which is slightly greater than the radius of disk 27 sothat the lands occupy a position between inner peripheral surface 53 andperiphery 37 of disk 27 when shoe 39 is properly mounted and positionedin the liquid bead applicator. The proximity of the lands 57 to theperiphery 37 of the disk 27 assure the formation and maintenance of aliquid head between the inner peripherial surface 53 on each of theprojections 51 and the periphery of the disk 27. An extension 61 havinga surface 63 is formed on the same radius as inner peripheral spsaesrsurface 53 and which constitutes a continuation thereof, is provided onthe end of shoe 39. The purpose served by surface 63 will be hereinafterset forth. The thickness of disk 27 and of shoe 39 is approximately thesame as the width of the sound track on the film strip.

The operation of the liquid bead applicator incorporating the applicatorshoe of my invention will now be described. In order to facilitate theunderstanding of the operation of the liquid bead applicator, I haveillustrated in FIG. 2 a section of the film strip P which is slightlyenlarged for clarity. The film strip F is conventional 16 mm. colorsound film having a series of perforations 65 along one edge, a seriesof latent images 67 and a sound track 69 positioned along the otherlongitudinal edge thereof. The film strip F is drawn from a supply reel(not shown) over guide wheel 13 around back-up roller 17, under guidewheel 13 and into the after-processing apparatus (not shown) by means ofa suitable drive mechanism incorporated in the after processingapparatus. The back-up roller 17 is positioned with the film strip onits periphery in close proximity to the periphery 37 of disk 27. Theguide wheel 13 laterally positions the film strip F on back-up roller 17so that the sound track 69 on the film strip is directly opposite theperiphery 37 of disk 27. While the disk 27 does not actually contact thefilm strip, the periphery 37 is sufficiently close so that a liquidcoating bead is established and maintained therebetween. Rotationalmovement imparted to the back-up roller 17 as a result of the drawing ofthe film strip F around the roller by the drive mechanism in theafterprocessing apparatus is also imparted to the disk 27. Liquid fromthe tray 36 is picked up by the periphery 37 of rotating disk 27 andcarried up to the applicator shoe 39. A supplementary liquid bead isformed between each projection 51 and the periphery of disk 27. Uponfurther rotation of disk 27 the liquid is carried on the periphery 37 tothe position where the periphery is closest to the sound track 69 on thefilm strip F. There a liquid coating head is established and maintainedbetween the moving film strip and the rotating applicator disk. Thusliquid is supplied to the liquid coating head by the periphery 37 of therotating disk and liquid is transferred from the liquid coating head tothe sound track area of the moving film strip.

It has been found that the applicator shoe 39 acts as a metering deviceof the liquid developer. Any excess liquid picked up by the periphery ofrotating disk 27 is planed off by the supplementary liquid beads and bythe inner peripheral surface 53 of shoe 39 and drains back into thereservoir 35. During any hesitation or momentary halting of therotational movement of disk 27 the supplementary liquid beads are heldby surface tension of the liquid between the projections 51 and theperiphcry 37 whereas in the prior art liquid bead applicators, theliquid on the periphery of the applicator disk drains back iinto thereservoir upon stopping of the disk. Such stopping occurs when themovement of the film strip over the back-up roller 17 momentarilyceases. The supplementary liquid beads which are formed between theapplicator shoe of the present invention and the disk remain even thoughthe disk is halted completely for short intervals of time and whenmovement is again commensed an ample amount of liquid will be present onthe periphery of the disk in the supplementary liquid beads to supplythe liquid coating head between the film strip and the disk.

It will be noted that a land is formed on each of the projections 51 ofthe applicator shoe 39, but that a land is not provided on the surface63 of extension 61. If such a land is formed on surface 63, aninsufiicient amount of liquid is deposited on the middle portion ofperiphery 37 and the sound track area is not uniformly coated from theliquid coating bead. Elimination of the land from the surface 63 permitsthe solution to fiow out evenly under extension 61 onto the periphery 37of the disk 27 and a uniform coating is applied to the sound track areaof the film strip.

It has been found desirable to have as many supplementary liquid beadsformed between the applicator shoe 39 and the periphery 3'7 of disk 27as is possible. It is important, however, to maintain each supplementaryliquid bead distinct, and since this depends upon adequately spacing thesupplementary beads, it follows that the space between successiveprojections 51 on shoe 39 must be sufficient to prevent adjacentsupplementary liquid beads from combining. Of course the exact spacingutilized and the distance between surface 53 and periphery 37 will varydepending upon the viscosity of the liquid involved. F or liquids whichhave a relatively high viscosity distance between successive projections51 and between surface 53 and periphery 37 will necessarily be greaterthan required for liquids of less viscosity.

The method of metering liquid of the present invention is utilized bythe liquid bead applicator described above and is undoubtedly apparentfrom such description. However, other embodiments could be utilized inpracticing the method, which depends upon the metering effect of one ormore stationary liquid beads on the quantity of liquid being carried ona moving liquid carrying surface. More specifically, the (stationary)supplementary liquid beads referred to in the operation of the liquidbead applicator, meter the quantity of liquid carried on the periphery37 of disk 27 to the liquid-coating bead which is formed between theperiphery of the disk 27 and the moving film strip F.

It will now be appreciated by those skilled in the art that theapplicator shoe of my invention provides a means for establishing aseries of supplementary liquid beads between the applicator shoe and theperiphery of the applicator disk of a liquid bead applicator to providea uniform quantity of liquid to the surface of a moving strip through aliquid-coating bead maintained between the periphery of the disk and thestrip regardless of any hesitation or actual stopping of the rotation ofthe applicator disk resulting from a hesitation or stopping of filmstrip movement thereby overcoming one of the major disadvantages of theknown prior art apparatus. Although I have illustrated only oneembodiment of my invention, many modifications and variations arepossible. For example, the applicator disk 27 and a shoe 39 could bereplaced by a cylindrical member, and an applicator shoe mounted withinthe member and having a discontinuous convex peripheral surfacepositioned adjacent to the internal periphery of the member for formingsupplementary liquid beads therebetween.

Since these and other modifications and variations will become readilyapparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing, the disclosureis intended, therefore, to be illustrative only and the scope of theinvention is defined in the appended claims.

Having now particularly described my invention, what I desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States and what I claim is:

1. In apparatus for feeding liquid from a liquid supply by moving meanshaving a curved liquid carrying surface, a metering device comprising anelement having a curved surface complementary to said liquid carryingsurface, said surfaces differing in radii by an amount such that whensaid surfaces are concentrically positioned in radially spaced relationa liquid bead extending substantially across said liquid carryingsurface is formed between the two surfaces upon liquid feeding movementof said liquid carrying surface, and means for mounting said elementspaced from said liquid supply along the path of movement of said liquidcarrying surface with said surfaces in such concentric position.

2. A metering device in accordance with claim 1 in which a raised landis provided on the curved surface of said element, the height of theland being less than the difference in radii of said surfaces wherebythe land facilitates the formation of said liquid bead as a result ofthe proximity of the land to said liquid carrying surface.

3. A metering device in accordance with claim 1 in which the curvedsurface of said element is discontinuous in the direction of liquidfeeding movement whereby a plurality of separate and distinct liquidbeads spaced in the direction of liquid feeding movement are formedbetween said surfaces.

4. A metering device in accordance with claim 3 in which a raised landis provided on each portion of said discontinuous curved surface tofacilitate the formation of said liquid beads as a result of theproximity of the lands to said liquid carrying surface.

5. A metering device in accordance with claim 4 in which said elementincludes an extension having a curved surface which is complementary tosaid liquid carrying surface and which forms a continuation of thecurved surface of said element, said extension being closer to saidreceiving member than any other portion of said element when saidelement is mounted in said apparatus whereby a uniform quantity ofliquid is fed on said liquid carrying surface to said receiving member.

6. In a device for applying liquid from a liquid supply onto a movingstrip, the combination comprising:

(A) a member having a curved liquid carrying surface,

(B) means for rotatably mounting said member with said surface passingin contact with said supply and through a point which is spaced fromsaid supply and which is sufiiciently close to said strip that a liquidcoating bead is formed therebetween upon rotational movement of saidmember,

(C) means for rotating said member to feed liquid from said supply tosaid liquid coating bead, and

(D) a metering device including:

(1) an element having a curved surface which is complementary to saidliquid carrying surface and which is discontinuous in the direction ofliquid feeding movement, said surfaces differing in radii so that whenconcentrically positioned in radially spaced relation, a plurality ofseparate and distinct supplementary liquid coating beads are formedbetween said surfaces in the direction of liquid feeding move ment uponsuch movement of said liquid carrying surface, and

(2) means for mounting said element along the path of movement of saidliquid carrying surface between the liquid supply and the moving stripwith said surfaces in such concentric spaced position.

7. In a device for applying liquid from a liquid supply onto a movingstrip, the combination comprising:

(A) an applicator disk having a liquid carrying periphery,

(B) means for rotatably mounting said disk with the periphery passing incontact with said supply and through a point which is spaced from saidsupply and which is sufiiciently close to said strip that a liquidcoating bead is formed between said periphery and said moving strip uponrotational movement of said disk,

(C) means for rotating said disk to feed liquid from said supply to saidliquid coating bead, and

(D) a metering device including:

(1) a plate member having a plurality of spaced projections and aconcave peripherally noncontinuous surface formed on the ends of saidprojections, said periphery and said surface differing in radii in anamount such that when concentrically positioned in radially spacedrelation, a plurality of supplementary liquid beads spaced in thedirection of liquid feeding movement are formed between said surface andsaid periphery, and

(2) means for mounting said plate member with said peripheral surface insuch concentric spaced position and between the point of contact of saiddisk with said supply and the point at which said liquid coating bead isformed.

8. The combination of claim 7 in which a raised land is formed on eachof said projections to facilitate the formation of each supplementaryliquid bead, each land extending in a peripheral direction on saidconcave peripheral surface and having a radius which is slightly lessthan that of said peripheral surface and slightly greater than theradius of said disk.

9. The combination of claim 8 in which said plate member includes anextension having a concave peripheral surface which has the same radiusas said first mentioned concave peripheral surface and forms acontinuation thereof, said extension being closer to said liquid coatingbead than any other portion of said plate member whereby a uniformquantity of liquid is metered across the width of the periphery of saiddisk by said metering device.

10. The method of metering the quantity of liquid transferred to amoving surface from a liquid carrying surface comprising supplyingliquid to the liquid carrying surface at a first zone, moving the liquidcarrying surface in a liquid feeding direction to a second zone in whichthe liquid carrying surface is in liquid transfer relation with saidmoving surface, and forming a plurality of separate and distinctstationary liquid beads spaced in the liquid feeding direction on saidliquid carrying surface in the course of the movement thereof from saidfirst zone to said second zone.

11. The method of metering the quantity of liquid transferred to amoving surface from a liquid carrying surface comprising supplyingliquid to the liquid carrying surface at a first zone, moving the liquidcarrying surface in a liquid feeding direction to a second zone in whichthe liquid carrying surface is in liquid transfer relation with saidmoving surface, and forming on said liquid carrying surface in thecourse of the movement thereof from said first zone to said second zonea plurality of separate and distinct stationary liquid beads, each ofwhich extends across said liquid carrying surface in a directiontransverse of said liquid feeding direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,822,466 Valdes Sept. 8, 1931 1,847,065 Munch Feb. 23, 1932 1,899,628Molins Feb. 28, 1933 2,079,563 Reuter May 4, 1937 2,933,417 McIntyreApr. 19, 1960

10. THE METHOD OF METERING THE QUANTITY OF LIQUID TRASFERRED TO A MOVINGSURFACE FROM A LIQUID CARRYING SURFACE COMPRISING SUPPLYING LIQUID TOTHE LIQUID CARRYING SURFACE AT A FIRST ZONE, MOVING THE LIQUID CARRYINGSURFACE IN A LIQUID FEEDING DIRECTION TO A SECOND ZONE IN WHICH THELIQUID CARRYING SURFACE IS IN LIQUID TRANSFER RELATION WITH SAID MOVINGSURFACE, AND FORMING A PLURALITY OF SEPARATE AND DISTINCT STATIONARYNLIQUID BEADS SPACED IN THE LIQUID FEEDING DIRECTION ON SA2D LIQUIDCARRYING SURFACE IN THE COURSE OF THE MOVEMENT THEREOF FROM SAID FIRSTZONE TO SAID SECOND ZONE.